This invention relates to a restraint for a child to facilitate holding the child in a position wherein the child may eat or rest comfortably, as well as permitting deployment of the restraint to protect the child during vehicular transportation and, more particularly, to a construction of such restraint in a manner which allows the restraint, during periods of non-use, to be folded into a relatively small package which is readily carried about and is readily stored.
Child restraints are employed frequently for holding a child in a position convenient for feeding. Typically, a restraint may be used also during vehicular travel, such as in an automobile or an aircraft, for holding the child in a position wherein the child can sleep comfortably without placing any undue burden on the part of a parent holding the child and the restraint in the parent's lap.
Typically, in the construction of a child restraint, there is some form of rigid support which holds the child, and some form of harness which secures the child to the support. Thereby, when the child and restraint are held in the parent's lap, the restraint prevents the child from jumping out of the lap.
The child restraint is also used, particularly, in vehicular transportation, to protect the child in the event of a rapid deceleration or possible crash of the vehicle. It is common practice in the construction of restraints employed for protecting children to secure the rigid support to a seat in the vehicle as by use of a seat belt or other suitable strap. A restraint designed primarily for protecting the child from a crash may have a different construction from a restraint which is intended merely to facilitate a feeding of the child.
There are other restraints which are constructed without rigid supports, these restraints being formed primarily of webbing. The webbing-form of restraint has, as a primary benefit, the facility to be folded into a small package which is readily carried about and stored during periods of time when the restraint is not needed for the child.
A problem arises in that none of these restraints have all of the foregoing desired features, namely, the capacity to hold a child comfortably in a parent's lap and the capacity to be secured to a vehicular seat for protecting the child, and the facility to be folded into a compact package. Therefore, it has been necessary to make compromises in the selection of a suitable restraint for a child.